I brought my dog to a PetSmart/Banfield location for shots and was given an itemized list of costs for the visit. The costs were well over $200. I was then given a polished presentation of the Banfield Wellness Plan and shown how much it would save me on this and future visits. This was at payment time, so it was either pay for the wellness plan or the visit and I chose the wellness plan because I would obviously be in the same predicament next time if I didn't. The contract for the plan was for 1 year, but I could cancel at any time. I am 9 months into the plan now but I have not been satisfied with it for about 4 months. My usually healthy dog has actually developed health problems recently and on each outrageous bill we have saved anywhere from $5 to $75. Office visits are supposed to be included in the plan but we have been charged 3 times for these. We began taking our other dog to a vet that is much closer and she seems to be much more honest about what the dog needs. Her prices are also much lower than Banfield's.

In my opinion, it seems that Banfield uses the age old marketing strategy of increasing their prices so that specials and discounts may be offered. $30 a month should not be necessary to receive fair billing for pet health care. Unfortunately, I still did not receive fair billing anyway. Now that I am 3 months shy of completing the contract, I would like to bring my dog to the same vet that my other dog has been seeing. Unfortunately, I was told by Banfield that canceling my plan means that I pay the remaining 3 months at once. Just like their marketing strategies, their cancellation plan is deceptive. If they require me to pay the remaining 3 months, why not keep it at monthly installments? After all, ability to pay the pet care bills is what is prompting my desire to cancel.

I am disappointed in Banfield in much the same way that human health care companies disappoint when they put money before humanity.

I subscribed to Banfield wellness plan over the phone for my new kitten towards the end of September 2008, and signed the one-year contract at Petsmart in Irvine.
I was happy to discover that the Petsmart in Tustin Marketplace opened up their own Banfield, because that location is more convenient to me. I approached their receptionist and asked if I could make an appointment for my cat's neutering. She told me yes, she just need to call the other Banfield and do the "transfer". That was last month, January 2009.
I brought my cat in today for the surgery, again the receptionist told me she would "tranfer" the plan, when I dropped him off this morning. Then when I was picking him up, a different receptionist, a Ms. Caroline Sanchez, told me that I would need to pay the first month of plan and sign a new yearly contract, which would start today. I hadn't planned on renewing after the first year, so now I was forced into starting a new contract, after the surgery was already done! On top of that, I would be charged the new increased monthly rate for this new contract, which I wasn't informed beforehand either. --Either that or I pay some $1000 charge for today's service!
(I was just charged $21.95 on Jan 27, just a week ago, now I'm paying again for Feb. )
The people at the Banfield in Petsmart, Tustin marketplace, didn't inform me of the extra charges, extra contract time etc when I made the appointment last month, or when I dropped off my cat this morning.
By the way, after I paid and signed and got home and let my cat out of the carrier, guess what, they had forgotten to take off the IV inlet on my cat! I had to put the poor thing in the carrier again, drive him to a critical care center and have the IV inlet removed.